It ain’t a biplane, but did fly this one (PT-23) for 15 seconds yesterday. First flight for me in it. Was solo. Noticed sluggishness on takeoff and looked at RPM gauge: 1700, when Redline is 2075. We were running along in ground effect at that point, so eased off on the power, sat it down on the mains and flew the tail down (this one is wheel-land only due to the notoriously flimsy TW structure).

Chocked it back at the hangar and did some static runups. Right mag is acting up. Noticed a bigger drop on that side than the left before takeoff, but didn’t seem enough to abort the flight. Now it was really awkward - popping and hissing and spitting. Between the hot engine and the 100+d day, there was no appetite for more fiddling. So I parked it. I will go out this evening when it is cooler and pull some plugs on that side to check for fouling before I get more invasive.

Sure seemed like a docile old bird, though. Will be fun to see how it does when it is back to 100%.

Those are cool airplanes I think. I'm not sure whether I like the Fairchild or the Ryan more but both are great airplanes. You were clearly paying attention and a bigger problem averted. Good on you!

I've been sharing a hangar this flying season with a friend from California who brought his newly restored 1929 Fleet Model 1 there to fly and play on the grass runways that are all over that part of Wisconsin and Illinois. Shortly after I got up there the first time in May he asked me if I'd be interested in buying the Fleet. I really wasn't though it was a very nice restoration with some interesting history.

Back in 1929 Paul Mantz, movie pilot, racer and holder of the record for outside loops (46 in a Fleet) took delivery of this plane. Over the next, nearly 100 years it was based in northern California. About 30 years ago Paul Siebert began restoring it. Unfortunately, Paul died before finishing the restoration and my friend Scott purchased it and took it to West Coast Air Creations at legendary Flabob Airport in Los Angeles to finish it up. Nando is a great craftsman who is currently restoring a Waco YMF 5 for me and he and his brother Hualdo redid the tail, hung the newly overhauled Warner 145 and new old stock Fahlin prop among other things.

After the restoration well known antique ferry pilot Andrew King took a week and flew it nearly 2,000 miles from LA to Brodhead last fall. All told Hualdo, Nando, Scott, Scott's wife Annie and Andrew have racked up 35 hours since last fall.

I took some photos and went home after a long weekend and began thinking about the plane. I reached out to Nando and talked to him. I called Cam Harrod, a Canadian and Fleet expert and discussed the plane with him. Scott and I visited a few more times and I looked it over more carefully during my next trip to Brodhead.

Paul did an amazing job sourcing ad restoring original parts. The panel is populated with beautiful, period correct instruments. I don't see Fleets for sale very often but everyone who has ever flown one loves them. Scott and I had lunch last week and he brought the logs along...by the time he dropped me back at my hangar at Sonoma I owned the airplane.

All along the way we talked about Paul but I never made the connection that he had restored it at Sonoma Skypark in his hangar just around the corner from mine. I never knew Paul, but do know his widow Marilyn, though I hadn't made that connection. She volunteers every week at our EAA Burger Fry. Anyway, when I saw her this morning she knew. With outstretched arms and a big hug she told me how glad she was that I was buying the plane. I told her I was bringing it back to Skypark and norcal where it belonged and she started crying. It was her birthday too. Happy birthday Marilyn!

Before it gets back here I'm going to fly it over to Airventure where it will be displayed in the Vintage Aircraft area. Hopefully near my Waco UMF 3. If you come to Airventure come take a look! If you miss it there will be a "Sport Aviation" article on Paul and his restoration in the fall.

I'll have a Pirep on flying it here and on my website http://www.dreamwacos.com later on.

Congrats! Len Morgan always wrote fondly of the Fleets he flew during RCAF primary.

Congratulations, Tony, on the acquisition of the Fleet. The human aspect of your post is heartwarming, even for the most cynical among us. The fact that the Fleet is returning to its home drome is also inspiring, and lends credence to the belief that these most unique aircraft possess a soul.
I attach two pictures of a Fleet and its pilot. Taken sometime in the early '30's, they were given to me by an elderly lady that often chats with me at Starbucks. She is the niece of the aviatrix in the pictures, who appears to have been a class act, at a time when romance, intrigue, and adventure were indelibly scribed into every pilot's logbook.
I regret that I will not be able to see your aircraft at Oshkosh, but I look forward to meeting you at Ranger Field in October.
Best,

Tom

Cool photos! See you this fall...

These are for you Daniel! Bach owned at least one Fleet and flew them in his Great American Flying Circus.

These photos were in one of the albums I got with my Model 1. I'm still trying to figure out the restorer's connection to him.

Finally back together!

I decided to replace the carpet after a lot of time spent detailing the exterior. I included a photo of the original carpet. The interior only got sat on 60 hours in 24 years but lots of feet in the hangar over three years created a lot of wear and soil.

thanks for sharing - that is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen

These are for you Daniel! Bach owned at least one Fleet and flew them in his Great American Flying Circus.

These photos were in one of the albums I got with my Model 1. I'm still trying to figure out the restorer's connection to him.

Thanks, Tony! I just re-read Nothing By Chance this week, I think I revisit that once a decade or so. Nobody had a bigger influence on me as a kid growing up and learning to fly airplanes than Richard. I read the short stories in A Gift of Wings and they hit me like a ton of bricks.

I thought I was the only one who saw the magic. It was so wonderful to realize that I wasn't alone. A lot of authors mentored me. Bonnie Tiburzi. Dick Collins. Barry Schiff. Ernie Gann. Rick Drury. Sam Hines. Rinker Buck.

But RIchard knew.

I would assume the picture is from Lumberton, NC, but Richard may have taken artistic license with the photos in the book....

And while I hate to clutter up a great thread with such mundane topics, this seems the best place to ask and get real advice:

What works as a good radio/intercom/headset arrangement in noisy open cockpits?

I'd like to replace the radio and intercom on the biplane as part of the re-engine project, but it is hard to get unbiased responses from the vendors.

I like the Trig and MGL options of remote radios with dual control heads (so pilots in each pit can tune if they need to), and both have built in intercoms claiming to work well in noisy cockpits.

The PM1200 intercom is claimed to be good for noisy cockpits, but when I talked to PS Engineering, they said in an open cockpit even their voice-activated doesn't really work and to use it with a Push To Talk switch.

What have you found to work well? Any success with voice activated intercoms?

Thanks!
Phil

I've got a PS intercom wired so that each 'pit has a small toggle for HOT MIC/PTT and a small, red, PTT button. I'll snag a picture for you later today when I'm out at the airport.

In my experience, the hot mic is simply unbearable.

The only ANR I've heard of that allegedly works is the company that rewires your David Clark. The purpose built ANR headsets are all no good in an open cockpit.

I use a standard HGU-68P with civilian coms. This winter I'll be sending it out to be converted to CEP, which should make it even quieter than it already is.

I've got the PM1200 in my Stearman. It works but it's not great. Turning the squelch to just about the limit helps. It also helps to have a leather or vinyl cover over the mic like these but with a hole only on the side you speak into. The two hole versions are for ANR. ANR however, as Daniel mentioned, just doesn't work in extremely noisy environments.

https://www.oregonaero.com/micmuff-microphone-cover

If I'm solo, I turn it off.

I have the PS Engineering 1200 in a couple of cockpits and it seems to work pretty well but you do need to turn it off intercom to hear other radio traffic clearly at times.

I'm putting one in my F3 right now as the Becker radio/com is essentially worthless. It may not be perfect but its the best solution I've found.

It helps to put a leather mike muff on the microphone.

ANR is pretty useless. It can work but not well. A few weeks ago all I could find in my hangar was a Lightspeed ANR as the helmet I usually use was in Brodhead and I couldn't find a DC. Anyway, I could hear the tower, and then departure/approach pretty well but I couldn't hear myself.

DC's with mike muff and PS 1200 seem to be the best combo for me.